I remember one time when you and I were in the kitchen together. You were cooking minestrone; I was baking biscuits. I mentioned the reaction modelling why the biscuits would eventually brown in the oven -the Maillard reactions. Not content with just hearing it from me, you looked them up right there; and by the end of the day you knew them better than I did. For you there was a time to eat, a time to sleep, a time to go to class, but it was always time to learn. It'd be almost comic understatement to say you beheld universes in even basic kitchen chemistry.

You inspired me to love what I do, however frustrating, vexing, demanding it may be. You still do, and you always will.